Clairvoyance and Occult Powers eBook

As a writer well says: “Through the astral
tube the astral senses actually ‘sense’
the sights, and often the sounds, being manifested
at a distance, just as one may see distant sights
through a telescope, or hear distant sounds through
a telephone. The astral tube is used in a variety
of forms of psychic phenomena. It is often used
unconsciously, and springs into existence spontaneously,
under the strong influence of a vivid emotion, desire
or will. It is used by the trained psychometrist,
without the use of any ‘starting point,’
or ‘focal centre,’ simply by the use of
his trained, developed and concentrated will.
But its most familiar and common use is in connection
with some object serving as a starting point or focal
centre. The starting point or focal centre, above
mentioned, is generally either what is known as the
‘associated object’ in the class of phenomena
generally known as psychometry, or else a glass or
crystal ball, or similar polished surface, in what
is known as crystal-gazing.”

Another authority tells his readers that: “Astral
sight, when it is cramped by being directed along
what is practically a tube, is limited very much as
physical sight would be under similar circumstances,
though if possessed in perfection it will continue
to show, even at that distance, the auras, and therefore
all the emotions and most of the thoughts of the people
under observation. * * * But, it may be said, the
mere fact that he is using astral sight ought to enable
him to see things from all sides at once. And
so it would, if he were using that sight in a normal
way upon an object which was fairly near him—­within
his astral reach, as it were; but at a distance of
hundreds or thousands of miles the case is very different.
Astral sight gives us the advantage of an additional
dimension, but there is still such a thing as position
in that dimension, and it is naturally a potent factor
in limiting the use of the powers on that plane. *
* * The limitations resemble those of a man using
a telescope on the physical plane. The experimenter,
for example, has a particular field of view which
cannot be enlarged or altered; he is looking at his
scene from a certain direction, and he cannot suddenly
turn it all around and see how it looks from the other
side. If he has sufficient psychic energy to
spare, he may drop altogether the telescope he is
using, and manufacture an entirely new one for himself
which will approach his objective somewhat differently;
but this is not a course at all likely to be adopted
in practice.”

The student will find that, as we progress, many of
these points which now seem complicated and obscure
will gradually take on the aspect of simplicity and
clearness. We must crawl before we can walk, in
psychic research as well as in everything else.